Audio Banter - View Single Post - Super discussion about negative numbers on the BBC

**Eiron** · March 10th 06, 08:34 PM posted to rec.audio.tubes,uk.rec.audio

wrote:

OK... how would you come up with the square root of -4? Practical
application, you are starting with so many square feet of feedstock,
you are making 22 boxes each requiring two 4 square foot faces, two
feet on a side and other sides may vary within certain parameters, and
12 boxes each requiring two 1 square foot faces. But the dimensions of
the first box must be calculated to have the correct volume as a
function of dimensions and not preclude the similar values for the
second box. So, you are SUBTRACTING dimensions as square roots of total
areas required for square cuts. As sq.rt. -4 does not calculate, but
sq.rt. 4 x i does... that is how it comes in. Keep in mind that one
*could* reverse the signs in one's head the reality is that all the
areas calculated are *real*, but as there are many sign-changes in the
calculation apart from negative number roots, the chance of error
increases greatly. The elegant part of all this is that the " i " drops
out at the end of the calculations, but it allows the rule of 8 (8
basic axioms of 'real' numbers) to apply during.

Sorry, still don't get it. Perhaps a simple example might help.

--
Eiron

There's something scary about stupidity made coherent - Tom Stoppard.